Love South Dundas is returning in June

Love South Dundas will once again hold their annual Children’s Fair at the Earl Baker Park in Morrisburg on Sunday, June 24th.

On May 1st, during the general consent portion of the South Dundas council meeting, council agreed to allow the Love South Dundas Organizing Committee to use the park as well as whatever chairs they might need for the June 24th activities.

In a letter to council from the two Love South Dundas cochairs, Pastor Clarence Witten of Community Christian Reformed Church and Pastor Duncan Perry of the Morrisburg Pentecostal Church pointed out that the day’s events would include an inter-church service as well as the Children’s Fair.

The event will include such festivities as entertainer and juggler Bob Cates, inflatable play structures, face painting, clowns and a free barbecue.

Witten and Perry reminded council that “Love South Dundas is a collaborative effort of all the churches in South Dundas to serve our community with a variety of service projects and random acts of kindness.”

“It’s part of a larger movement that happens all across Canada usually during the two week period beginning with the day of Pentecost.”

“This year, our fourth year, this event will be from June 10th to June 24th. Like in other years, we’ll be busy helping seniors, distributing baked goods to service organizations, holding special events, washing cars and so on.”

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Change is in the air for many of the United Churches within the Seaway Valley Presbytery.

Presbytery Chair, Wendy Wright MacKenzie revealed that last year the Seaway Valley Presbytery received “a number of requests from the people in the pews for help in addressing over-all declining membership.”

“We realized that the people knew their community better than anyone else,” said Wright MacKenzie, “and so in January 2011, 85 people gathered to dream about what the church might look like in a changing world.”

“In March 2011, over 800 people gathered at North Dundas High School for a vote to divide the Presbytery up into districts in order to continue a process of visioning and change. There was an overwhelming YES vote.”

“Since that time, the congregations have been doing self-reflections and analysis. By November 28th, all congregations within the Seaway Valley Presbytery voted on whether they wanted to be in conversation with other churches to discuss possibilities for the future,” she continued.

“At this time, we have 13 churches already in conversation, visioning and dreaming of what it might look like when following a different model of being ‘church’.”

Iroquois United Church Reverend Janet Evans revealed that the “Iroquois United Church has a team of four people who will be meeting with some local churches – Brinston, Hulbert Valley, Williamsburg – to see where we might go from here.”

The United Church in Williamsburg was recently listed for sale. The congregation, like so many others, has grown too small to manage the upkeep of such a large and outdated building.

Retired Reverend Ralph Taylor recently joined the Williamsburg United Church to help the congregation through the upcoming changes.

Taylor said that he is there on a renewable six-month contract, but will stay “as long as it takes.”

As for the decision to sell the church in Williamsburg, Taylor admitted that it wasn’t an easy choice to make for the congregation. “Some are more excited than others and some are anxious,” he said.

“The congregation is getting older and the cost of maintaining (the church) means they’d just be focused on maintaining, not on missions,” said Taylor.

He admitted that the choice is ‘heart wrenching’. “But what other choice do we have at this point?”

Currently, Williamsburg’s United Church congregation is meeting at the J.W. MacIntosh Seniors Support Centre on Sundays.

The congregation will return to the church in March, if it hasn’t sold. When it does sell, the congregation will seek an alternative location in the area.

Taylor admitted that “eventually they’ll be joining another congregation, but it will take a little while.”

With this news, comes the question of what will happen to the many other United Churches within South Dundas. How will they fare in the months and years to come?

According to Evans, “people from Iroquois United Church are both excited and nervous about the changes that will inevitably come our way.”

“Iroquois United Church, for example, has been able to support a full-time minister which means that the present minister has time to care for all of the shut-ins who are associated with our congregation,” she explained.

“Perhaps more people will have needs when several churches work together under a new model. Lay people may have to undertake more of the church’s work.”

“No one really wants to lose their building but that may or may not happen under a new structure,” she said, adding, “new structures could mean, however, more people coming together to offer their gifts and talents in God’s service.”

Wright MacKenzie said, “we realize that everything in life changes.”

“The way to experience our worship needs an extreme makeover,” she added, pointing out that “the world is changing and so we have to look at new ways of what it means to reach out to the community. The way we ‘do worship’ does not appeal to the younger generation so we need to also look at some other options.”

“This is still very much a work in progress so it is exciting to see what the congregations come up with as they talk together.”

“Change is always somewhat nerve wracking but God will be with us as we journey into the future,” reminded Evans.

The Presbytery, according to Wright MacKenzie, will continue to offer help and support in whatever way possible.

As for the years to come, she said, “time will tell what this looks like in the future. This is completely in the hands of the people in the pews.”

Campers at the Iroquois Municipal Campground haven’t seen a rate increase for seven years, but that will change this year.

South Dundas council approved a 5.4 per cent increase to daily site rentals, during recent budget deliberations.

With the increase, unserviced sites will go up to $22.15, 15 amp serviced sites to $24.90 and 30 amp sites to $27.67.

“We’re low compared to everyone else,” said South Dundas clerk Brenda Brunt. Weekly, monthly and seasonal rates will see similar increases.

The campsite makes money for the money for the municipality. Some of the revenues will be rolled into needed service upgrades, and it has been suggested that surplus could help support the efforts of the Iroquois waterfront committee.

November 25th was a day of celebration for the Williamsburg Non-Profit Housing Corporation.

The morning’s events began with the unveiling of the Tolley Place sign. The Tolley Place townhomes opened in 2009, offering quality housing to younger seniors.

James Kooistra, Chair of the Board of Directors for the corporation, said, “the idea of this started long ago. I was told it was Trevor (Tolley, former Chair of Board) who had this idea.”

Tolley reminded everyone present that he did not do this alone. He listed all of the people and organizations that worked hard to make Tolley Place a reality.

From the unveiling of the sign, the group moved to one of two new sheds recently erected. Here Kooistra informed everyone that the corporation had received a $15,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which financed the two sheds, two dedication trees, as well as the walkway between Tolley Place and J. W. MacIntosh Seniors Support Centre.

According to a press release from the corporation, due to a 2010 gardening project started by Tolley Place residents, “a garden shed has been placed at Tolley Place and will be available for tool storage. A second shed was placed at the east end of the walkway and will store maintenance equipment.”

As for the trees, Kooistra said, “some years ago the Board said farewell to three board members: Trevor Tolley, Joan Findlay, and Barbara Phifer. They served on the board for many, many years.”

“They were promised that we would plant some trees, one for Trevor and one for the two ladies.”

He then thanked the three again, for their “years of commitment and dedication to the Board.”

A sign dedicating the trees to the three former board members will be affixed to the garden shed.

The walkway, which was completed this fall, finally “links two projects that should always be linked,” said South Dundas Mayor Steven Byvelds.

As Kooistra pointed out, “the walkway was constructed to provide easier access to the services of the Community Support Centre. These services include exercise classes, hot meal programs, health and wellness clinics and educational presentations. The sidewalk encourages regular walking which is great exercise in itself.”